MATHERN’S POSITION ON PRISON REMODELING IS A FLIP-FLOP

Now Mathern’s position basically follows the same approach Hoeven laid out from the start. Hoeven’s reuse plan would meet the needs at the state prison and utilize other facilities like the county jails. Mathern says we need new leadership, but he’s talked himself around to supporting Hoeven’s approach. It certainly is silly season when you set out to criticize someone only to imitate their leadership abilities.

‘GREEDY’ CAPITALISTS THE MOST GENEROUS

If socialism were the ticket, as Myhre suggests, I guess the United States would be the least prosperous of all the industrialized nations, and then as a result, we’d be the least giving. In my opinion, socialism appeals to two groups of people: those who don’t want the burden of taking care of themselves, and those who believe we should all share in the misery.

LET VOTERS APPROVE LEGISLATIVE PAY RAISES

North Dakota voters need to initiate a constitutional amendment that says our legislators can take a pay increase only upon voter approval. I think the people of this tate would approve it.

Any reform in government will only come from the bottom up, never from the top down. Think about it and be part of the reform.

REDUCE SALES TAX 2 CENTS FOR 4 YEARS

A reduced sales tax would encourage people who live beyond North Dakota borders to spend in North Dakota.

With a sunset clause, this would not make a problem for the 2013 Legislature if North Dakota finances should reverse.

LEGALIZE, REGULATE AND TAX CANNABIS

After educating North Dakotans on the science of cannabis for almost two years, I’ve seen a majority agree that cannabis prohibition is wrong. So, here are more facts about cannabis.

There are more than 600 medicinal and hundreds of hemp strains of cannabis. Their uses range from curing cancer to making plastic and biofuel. They’re not going away.

SPURGE TO THE FORUM FOR SIMPSON REPORTS

Leafy spurge to The Forum, all the rest of the Fargo-Moorhead media and those three golfers with nothing better to do than give a "hero welcome" to a killer.

N.D. DPI IS PART OF ‘NO CHILD’ PROBLEM

Some suggest that No Child Left Behind was created to prove that public schools are failing. The way the numbers are crunched, by 2013 every school in North Dakota could be in a position to not make the Annual Yearly Progress threshold. The increase from 46 schools to 169 schools not making AYP is, in part, a Department of Public Instruction problem.

BUSH'S POLICIES PROTECT US

Political posturing about civil liberties and governmental abuse makes for attractive rhetorical flourishes, but when it comes to making concrete life-or-death decisions, the actions of many Democratic politicians speak louder than words. The political reversal on this issue is a tacit illustration that even the Democrats know Bush is doing something right in the war on terror. And it should be a wake-up call for all Americans this July Fourth that our president, though he remains unpopular, has pursued smart and effective national security policies, policies that have likely saved our freedoms and our lives.

COAL, NOT OIL, COULD BE DEFINING ISSUE OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Regardless of whether CTL becomes an election issue, it will remain an important issue for national discussion. The need for alternative energy sources demands that we consider the trade-offs between the perfectly “green” energy sources that do not exist in ample quantities and the less than perfectly green but clearly abundant resource right beneath our feet. CTL is a fuel whose time has come.

MEASURE NO. 1 HAS BIPARTISAN SUPPORT IN N.D.

Measure No. 1 has overwhelmingly bipartisan support and has already been approved by the state Legislature and the governor. Voting “yes” on Measure No. 1 simply means you agree with the Legislature’s plan to invest in both the present and the future.

MINOT STRIP CLUB CAN OF WORMS

The city council is opening a can of worms by offering the strip club owners tax dollars to move the strip club portions of their businesses. This offering of tax dollars is not a proper use of tax money. Will the same compensation be offered to other businesses who find themselves in zoning disputes?

CONRAD'S LOAN MEANT TO GAIN FAVOR

The senator would have us believe that this whole dust-up is about his apartment loan. How nice that would be for him. The reality is that Countrywide Financial CEO Mozilo knew very well who Conrad was and his position of power. Mozilo did what a CEO would do for powerful people who had legislative power over his huge home loan empire - he would accommodate him in every way possible. "Hey, nice of you to phone me, senator. A loan for a Delaware beach house? Apartment, too? Consider it done. Bye."

LIFE UNDER BARACK OBAMA

How long will it be after Obama takes office before it becomes impossible to criticize the president, congress or for that matter, anybody, without being hauled into court?

MCCLINTOCK LEADS GOP REVOLUTION

"Republican voters have not abandoned conservative principles but are concerned that their leaders have.' He adds, 'If you don’t stand for anything, don’t be surprised if nobody votes for you.' And so he stood, and beat his main competition, former Congressman Doug Ose, in the May primary with 54 percent of the vote. And so he stands, one of the potential leaders of the conservative comeback. If not in a big way this fall, it will come, McClintock is certain.

Freedom - limited government, pushbacks against government attacks on religion and speech and marriage - will ring.

'NAIVE' CONRAD SHOULD RESIGN

If Conrad did not know he was getting a special deal, then he is too naive to represent the people of North Dakota and should resign his office now. Most of the voters in North Dakota are considered honest and trustworthy; Conrad changed that in one swoop.

LIBERALS TEND TO BE THE NASTIEST OF ALL

So please, dear Forum, don’t act as if lack of charity is exclusive to conservatives. Liberals condemn conservatives for every little thing they can in the nastiest way they can.

ED SCHAFER: FARM BILL EDITORIAL OFF MARK

Somehow you have convoluted yourselves into thinking that because some Republicans support this new farm bill that it justifies the increased expenditures. But Democrats and Republicans alike have voted to increase spending for farming subsidies at a time when farm income this year will be

50 percent higher than the 10-year average. They have decided to pay people not to fish in the ocean. They want to spend a half-billion dollars to buy more land for the government to own and allow wealthy horse breeders to depreciate their animals, and the taxpayers get to pay for that. Members of Congress have also voted to allow farmers to continue to sell their grain at a low price and then again at a higher price, and the taxpayers end up paying for the grain the second time.

RECOVERING OIL TAKES WATER

There’s a lot of enthusiasm about the huge oil deposits under western North Dakota, with oil yields forecasted to produce 2 million to 4 million barrels of oil.

What is disturbing is the amount of water that oil companies want to use to produce this oil.

OPPOSE THE CABAL OF CONTROL-FREAK NAZIS

The lies keep coming from this cabal of control-freak Nazis. In some states, trans fats have now been banned for your own good. (It’s now impossible to get good french fries in New York.) A city councilman in St. Charles, Mo., is now trying to ban obscenities in bars for your own good. These people need to be stopped, or in our lifetimes they will be controlling our entire lives for our own good.

BE CONSISTENT ABOUT OUT-OF-STATE DOLLARS

Americans for Prosperity is an out-of-state organization. Of course, there are other organizations whose personnel are paid from Washington, D.C. The North Dakota Democratic Party has at least one staffer, if not more, who is paid for directly by the Democratic National Committee - most definitely an out-of-state organization.

What’s the point? Either all out-of-state money is bad, or none of it is. This selective outrage has to stop. If a newspaper is going to single out where money is coming from, it better do it across the board.